The Underlying Blog

Laptop Woes, Sick as a Dog

Quick update on the never-ending computer saga, or here's a better idea, a quick summary.

• Nov 2006: I buy a new, HP DV 9000 17 inch widescreen laptop with Windows XP Media Center installed. Happy camper.
• Late-Jan 2007: The sound blows out on my HP laptop. It goes in to HP Support for the first time via Best Buy. Annoyed camper.
• Mid-Feb 2007: The laptop comes back from HP Support to Best Buy - unfixed, despite it having been sent back as fixed. Very-annoyed camper.
• Mid-Feb 2007: HP Laptop goes to HP Support second time, this time directly through HP Support because I called during one of our Ohio snow storms, and they sent me a Fedex box. Anything less than a Hummer wouldn't have gotten me to Best Buy during that storm. Impatient camper.
• Late-Feb 2007: Still haven't heard from HP. Livid camper.
• March 2007: Call HP until I finally get to someone who tells me my laptop will come back to me fixed Late-March. My position: Unacceptable considering I've been without my laptop for six weeks. Twilight Zone Camper.
• March 2007: I finally reach a 'case worker' who sets me up with a replacement notebook - it'll come with Vista Ultimate (XP wasn't available)! Ooohhhh.... Ahhhhhh.... Happy camper returns from techno hell.
• Late-March 2007: Replacement HP notebook arrives, with Windows Vista Ultimate. Great except they sent me the 64-bit version. For those of you not familiar with 64-bit, it would be like Chevrolet sending you a flying Corvette to replace a busted one: Really cool and definitely the future, but not practical in the day and age we're living in because the technology to support it hasn't arrived yet. In my case, crucial software doesn't run on the new machine. Numb camper.
• Currently: I've paid HP $18 to send me a 32-bit Vista Home Premium recovery disc. So, to summarize, I've paid HP money to send me an inferior operating system to Vista Ultimate that SHOULD run my software. Ripped off camper.

In conclusion, it's now been 8 weeks since my laptop crashed and burned, and I'm still not up and running yet.

Oh yeah, and I'm sick as a dog.

I'll be in Amish country for the next, oh, 6 years if you need me.

But seriously, it makes me think back to my previous post on what I would do if the technology left me. I've realized it wasn't just hypothetical, it can happen. Check it out here.

Can you 'See' the News Yet?

My buddy Ron Robison has blogged about some great visualization resources, and I thought you'd want to check them out:

Link to Ron Robison: Learn by Pictures? 

Ron's the guy who brought us the Periodic Table of of Visualization Methods, and I can say firsthand the resources in his new post are topnotch as Maramushi was my startup page a while back... good to be reminded.

If You Can't Pick Someone, Pick 6 Billion

I feel like this is a copout on Time's part.

Am I being elitist? Aren't we all special?

Sorry folks, I just can't get behind the logic. Sure we're all special, but I count on Time for an in-depth analysis and careful selection when picking the Person of the Year (with that in mind, I am fully open to Time creating a 'People of the Year Award'). Maybe Time picked now to declare the Web the great equalizer because social ecosystems such as MySpace and YouTube seem to be hitting critical mass, but you could create a web presence pretty easily over the last 10 years, so why now? And further, hasn't human communication and interaction always been a patchwork quilt by the masses, for the masses even if there weren't yet digital frameworks to capture the interactions? Spend a little time with Karen Stephenson or Malcolm Gladwell and you'll know what I'm talking about.

Bottom-line, I think 'You' is unfair to previous generations who would have gladly collaborated to the utmost given the technologies we currently have. And like I said before they did and always have collaborated, it just has never been captured on this level before.  My opinion therefore, is the person of the year should be someone who has facilitated such togetherness: Maybe SecondLife founder Philip Rosedale.

Time is correct in asserting that everyone can have a voice online if they choose to accept the mission. And it's true, anyone can blog, create a videocast or podcast, and do it at very little cost. Problem is, I've seen a lot of bloggers, podcasters, MySpacers and YouTubers who wonder if anyone is listening. And I encourage them wholeheartedly to continue doing so, just with realistic expectations. Check out my previous Red Pill Post for more on this. Further, just because the cost of creating and delivering media has gone down, it does not at all influence the amount of time people have to consume it.

And the numbers just aren't adding up in this mind of mine: If everyone is focused on capture, is there still time in the moment - the moment to enjoy all this newly created media? The answer of course, is no, there isn't time, and therefore, only a few of those who create content will be viewed in any mass numbers. This rocks if you're cool with fulfilling a deep niche, but may be hard on those who deem themselvers stars and are subsequently disappointed by the 3 hits their blog got last month.

Bottom Line: If everyone is constantly creating their very own media empire, who listens?

Link to TIME Magazine Cover: Person of the Year - Dec. 25, 2006 - Technology - Person of the Year

(Last thought: I think Time should do a recount and pick Borat as Person of the Year for 2006)

Me, Late-Stage Roman Empire?

Those of you who've followed my blog are aware of my propensity to use the Roman Empire as an analogy for self-conquest, as evidenced by my guest posts at the Taming Project Chaos Blog. 

Recently, I've noticed a certain trend in the media and thought current of America that the US is late-stage Roman Empire, at power's peak with nowhere else to go but down.

I've found an interesting way to possibly evaluate the late-stage empire assertion, and I want your opinion on whether or not its valid. Here goes:

People never seem to want to empty their garbage cans: (okay, I'm even guilty at times) Anyone else notice this?  You can walk into someone's kitchen, open up the door to the trash can and see a veritable Taj Mahal rising from the top of the bin.  And the oddest part is you know it took more work to create the trash sculpture than it would have to simply take the trash out and put a new bag in the can.

So here's where I need your help:  Has it always been this way, people making garbage art 3 feet high off of the tops of their trash cans?  When the Greatest Generation was getting the baby boom on in the 1950s, did they pile the trash until it looked like the Lexcorp Towers.  Or did they take it out?  Because if it's always been this way, then who's to say we're late-stage anything?  We're just great artists. 

On the other hand, if we've just recently taken up the habit of making sculpture out of trash, well then my friend, we may just smack dab in the fat and happy camp.  It would either show laziness to discard the ultra-convenient products we consume, or an unreal amount of materialism that we cannot part with the waste elements of our activity.

Well, I'm off to Chipotle for my 1 pound burrito.  Bling Bling.

Ah, the Warmth of Human Contact

Link: Ah, the Warmth of Human Contact.

Electronic communication is nearly instantaneous, essentially wiping out time and distance. But what is being said using all this marvelous technology? That's what really matters. Commentary by Tony Long.

Whoever You Are, You're Royalty

Yesterday, I saw something touching while waiting in a line for food at O'Hare.  Two US soldiers were standing in line in front of me, and a woman quickly walked up to them, pressed what looked like a large bill into one of their hands and rapidly walked away.

That is generosity and goodness in its purest form.